Beginning our Journey

Debra has a good sense of timing – in some ways – more about that later. S he got us up early and off to the Kecsksemet Railway Station to get the 9:45- partly because of our history of having parents arrive early to all things so they wouldn’t be late. We arrived at the station around 8:40 – just in time to get the 8:45 jammed in with the local commuters . We obtained a couple of seats beside two lovely young Iranian students who were beginning five year stints at a university town about ½ hour from K – one in dentistry and the other in medicine. The journey went quickly as we talked about customs in both our countries and while we frequently think we don’t have much to say about Canada in terms of history we did relate some of our ways of doing things. One of them had lived in the USA for ten years and the other for one. They were concerned their English had become sloppy as they had expected much better use of English in Hungary, but found many of the professors and other international students were not as proficient as they had hoped. They had been learning English (the language of this university) since grade one. Our only regret is that we didn’t ask them for their addressses or give them ours – the journey went quickly and we enjoyed their company tremendously.

Nugati Station

We arrive in Budapest, say goodbye to our new friends and put our small backpacks on (yes, Rosemary, – pretty goofy I know) and we are off to our hotel on foot. It’s early in the morning and there isn’t a whole lot of foot traffic – nice and fresh and bright out. Debra navigates and says it will take us about half an hour to get to our hotel. Fortunately, I have a rule for me – that is, if you don’t take matters in to your own hands, you can’t complain about what somone else does. I won’t go into the long story about starting out in the wrong direction (I know a map and compass are useful Ken) and ending up by the shore of the Danube (a kilometer further than necessary) and having to backtrack, etc. we arrived at our hotel 2 1/2 hours later. Needless to say, we were both delighted upon arrival that they gave us our room early and we were able to doff the packs and go off twenty pounds lighter to drink and eat the equivalent in beer and food before we went to the Museum of Applied Arts and Design. If you are intereseted in seeing pictures of the blisters on Debra’s feet from wearing her sock free Wooly shoes that her sister Rosemary said did not need socks, check out www.debrasloan.com for what happens to sock free feet in Wooly shoes. Thank you Rosemary.

The Museum of Applied Arts and Design

The building itself is a spectacular show of wedding cake intricacy – the architect, Leshmer had studied with Gaudi and we had a sense of what was important at the time. Unfortunately, the building had not been maintained in the current economic climate. We were truly saddened to see so much of the institute closed for repair, but yet did not see much evidence of repairs happening. On the exterior they had taped up much of the building to protect the tiles, but there was no one actually doing the work. In the interior there was plaster that needed fixing, and it seemed to us that there were many pieces that were not out on display. We wanted to have more information about the individual works of art but it was lacking. We were pleased to see however, to see a work by Imre Schrammel that he had completed about ten years ago at the Herend Porcelain Factory.

About Herend Porcelain

I am truly humbled that I have been working with this clay – I didn’t know how special it is – of course I have enjoyed working with it while finding it a challenge. It is critical that one concentrates while working with it as it is so sensitive . I find this constant attention is very fatiguing yet rewarding. Herend is apparently the largest porcelain producer in the world and it is expensive clay to work with, prized for the brilliant white and translucency that characterizes it. I have used approximately 70 kilos of the material and reconstituted it as well as there are many trimmings and collapsed pieces. I do not want to keep pieces that are second best – so looking forward to seeing what will come of my samples in the wood firing completed this weekend while we were away.

Back to Plaster Again…I have an idea for a tile mural again – instead of “throwing” the tiles, I am hoping to cast them in a kind of pillow shape – draw on them while supporting them from underneath and then silk screen to add another dimension on the surface. More to follow.